Friday, October 31, 2008

Yesterday's AGM was the usual bundle of fun. It always amazes the Gorse Fox how much heat can be generated in the discussions without the evidence of light. The estate has a new Chairman (pro temps) who is to be congratulated for handling things with a high degree of sensitivity and patience, whilst providing clear and firm direction. (He and the other members of the Board are volunteers but often end up pilloried at these meetings).

Not everyone is eloquent, but their point of view is valuable and deserves respect. It is a shame that not all of the attendees had the common decency or courtesy to respect the Chair, the effort put in by the Board, or the views of neighbours and continued to mutter, chunder, and interrupt. There are times when one gets an almost overwhelming urge to tell people to sit down, shut up, and behave.

The major debate yesterday was in regard to installing and electronic barrier, or not. Arguments raged and suffered from fractured logic. The facts, as best the Gorse Fox can determine, are:

Existing security guards are not performing effectively

Health and safety are demanding better accommodation for them

Health and safety are demanding they take comfort breaks, requiring backup cover

Residents have been complaining

the Board have suggested and electronic barrier

Arguments against seem to be:

We'll be trapped if there's a power cut - refuted, gate can be backed with UPS and unlocked by master key to fail open.

It removes the Right of Way granted in the Deeds to the properties - GF can't see how this changes the status quo when the security guards have the existing gate down.

There's no real problem anyway with non-residents parking for the beach - GF thinks that would very quickly change if KG was known to be open instead of guarded.

Burglars would be able to get through - er! Hello! they can now when the guards aren't on duty.

Cyclists will be able to get through - er! Hello! they can now with or with a guard.

People will randomly push buttons until someone lets them in - as opposed to the guards justy waving them through.

Arguments for seem to be:

Gates will be closed at extra times without costing any more - seems logical

Won't need to build facilities for the guards - which can't be placed by the gate anyway because KG doesn't own that land.

Gates will deter or prevent non-residents from parking on the estate

Gorse Fox feels fairly neutral about the whole issue, but is always amused by the logical fallacies that get trotted out in such debate... and it makes him feel mischievous and want to argue the contradictory position just for the heck of it. Anyway, a vote was held and came down in favour of investigating the scheme further.

Of course we could just build better facilities somewhere and pay for better guards, put in CCTV, or weapons emplacements.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

With the clocks changing at the weekend and the change in the weather,the Gorse Fox was greeted by icy windscreens in the pre-dawn dark.Fortunately the heated windscreens quickly cleared the opaque view. Asit was half-term the roads were very quiet as he headed up toWorcester.

The day was filled with a single meeting that consumed most of theworking day... but has hopefully provided some clarity.

The evening was very different. The Gorse Fox had been invited to thehome of the Mexican and his wife for mexican styled meal which was tobe followed by Cardinal SIn and the Bum Notes weekly rehearsalsession. It was a lovely evening and the food was excellent - onlysurpassed by their hospitality.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Football is a funny old game. Spurs have had an atrocious start to the season. The treacherous sacking of Martin Jol last year saw the team he had built win a cup... but then during the summer the main strike force was sold, and nobody of great significance brought in. The Director of Football semed clueless, and Juande Ramos seemed bemused.

It was clear that their job were on the line... and the rumour mill had started. But the news that they have all been sacked to be replaced with Harry Redknapp is a bolt from the blue. The Gorse Fox hadn't even heard of it as a wild whisper, let alone a credible rumour.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Gorse Fox has made the most of a quiet day to catch up on some reading, his expenses, and some of the blogs that he likes but has not had a chance to read for a while. The Silver Vixen is having a quiet day with her patterns and fabrics.

Friday, October 24, 2008

So the RAV4 needed a new tyre. GF had checked the number 235/ 16R9856T/ 100T123765/ XYZ or whatever and looked online. e-Tyres were by far the cheapest in the area and would come to the house to fit it. (GF had checked all this out several months ago).

Going online he ordered the service yesterday... and mid afternoon the chap rang the bell and got started. His van was a fully equipped workshop and the tyre was changed in no time. GF got chatting to him and it turns out that he comes from the next village and has been doing this for a couple of years now - and may end up changing up to about 20 tyres a day across West Sussex. Overall it was very impressive and GF had to fill in a little checklist to confirm that the locking wheel nuts had been returned, that the job was done to his satisfaction, and that the wheel nuts had been tightened with a torque wrench rather than an air gun (to ensure they can be released by hand if necessary).

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The family had arranged to meet at The Bell in Winslow, near the Funeral Director's. We drank some coffee and had something to eat before heading out.

As we left to head for Funeral Director, where close family would follow the hearse in a limo, the question arose - "Is there enough room in your car? If not we could probably fit another body in ours!" The Gorse Fox bit his tongue - this was not the moment to giggle.

The Funeral went very well - with moving tributes from the family and then we repaired to a nearby hostelry for the wake.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

He had bought a Wii and proudly discussed it with his friends. They teased him that he would have to stand up to play it... he looked shocked. He read the instructions for the games and realised that you did indeed have to stand up to play - you couldn't possibly do it from the armchair.

He was distraught.

The following morning he was back at the shop demanding his money back.

Some days begin well... and bring surprises. Today was one such day. It began well with a long hot shower and then a leisurely breakfast. (He did get dressed in between - just for the sake of the locals).

He stopped for diesel and some Rombout's coffee and then came the shock - as he waited to pull back into the traffic a BMW 5 series stopped and waved him out). This could be the first time this has ever been witnessed. He considered stopping and taking a photo - but decided that would delay the traffic further.

A generally good day at work was followed by a the journey south through the autumn sunset to Sussex.

The Gorse Fox has now collected his new work laptop and as he speaks lots of bits are thundering down an ethernet cable as the new one tries to mind meld with the old one and absorb all that it stored over the years.

Good job the afternoon was meant to be filled with conference calls and being offline is not too problematic.

What a contrast - Sunday is overcast, breezy and a few showers are passing through. This seems like a good excuse to display some more of the photos from yesterday... and to recommend a trip to Tricia's Tales to see her photos of Sheffield Park.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The sat-nav hurled us east from Kingston Gorse and deposited us, some 36 miles later, at the entrance to Sheffield Park, near Uckfield. Evidently, the sat-nav had performed a similar trick for several thousand other people as we were backed up along the road, crawling at a snails pace the last few thousand yards to the entrance and then to one of the overflow car parks.

This is, without doubt, one of the National Trusts' real treasures... and whilst, as members we entered without paying, there was a long snaking line of visitors willing to pay the entrance fee for a glimpse inside.

We were not disappointed. The views soon opened up upon a riot of autumn colour carefully framed by evergreens and huge specimen trees. Wheresoever you looked, there was a vista or image worth remembering or capturing.

A series of lakes ran through the middle of the grounds acting as a mirror, reflecting the powder blue of the sky and the cathedral of colour that poured from the foliage.

A day such as this, with sights such as this cleanse the spirit and clear the mind.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Today is the big day. The band formed several months ago after amusical evening at the pub is having its first gig. Cardinal Sin andthe Bumnotes are about to hit the big time with an arena gig at Spur 0this evening.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Last night he made an exception and watched Peter Kay's spoof talent show "Britain's Got the Pop factor... and possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar on Ice". It was one of the most enjoyable and funny TV programmes he has seen in years. Really well produced and acted, it was made to seem absolutely real... but the whole dialogue was laced with wonderfully funny lines - rarely overt - usually very subtle.

It has been a strange day. GF was home alone - with the Silver Vixen up with family in the midlands. The phone was quiet, the door was quiet. Everything was quiet.

The one exception came when a Starfleet Admiral called with some long awaited news. It would appear that the GF can please some of the people some of the time. In return it seems that they can please him.

There was also an inbound email from Cousteau-cub today. All seems well in Paradise and she's obviously getting busy.

Bags are packed and Podcasts are cut ready for the morning's trip to Worcester.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Gorse Fox helped out Urban-cub by purchasing an oil-filled radiator for her flat. Sir Lancinglot, before walking out, had stripped and removed all of the night storage heaters and now as autumn draws on the lack of heat is becoming troublesome.

The phone rang

It was Urban-cub reporting that said radiator did not radiate. Indeed it did not even register that it was receiving power.

The Gorse Fox returned this morning to collect the radiator and exchange it at B&Q. The chap was very helpful and went and checked that the fault was as described... and then sent us to take a replacement from the shelves. Returning to the counter he offered to check that this one worked. At this point silent alarms must have gone off.

A supervisor swooped in. "You can't do that" she explained, clicking her heels together and slapping her boots with a swagger stick.

The youth stammered "I was only going to plug it in". The Gorse Fox raised an eyebrow.

"'elf and safety" said the supervisor. "If you plug it in, it can no longer be sold to the customer" and then muttered something about only following orders, annexing the Sudetenland and how 'elf and Safety was the new Reich and would last 1000 years.

The Gorse Fox smiled and took the radiator unopened back to Urban-cub's flat where, wearing rubber gloves, rubber soled boots, goggles, and safety helmet he pugged the radiator into a normal socket and went for the switch. Urban-cub and the cats were asked to shelter in the kitchen, neighbours had been asked to put mattresses up against their doors and tape their windows, and the emergency services were on speed-dial.

The Gorse Fox counted down... "Five, four, three, two, one"

He flicked the switch.

There was no thermo-nuclear incident. There was no flash. The Gorse Fox was not hurled across the room. The apartment block is still standing.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

It has been a quiet day, which started with the sad news that the Silver Vixen's aunt had died. This was a blessed relief as she had clearly given up and the spark that made her what she was had receeded further and further into her confusion.

Silver Vixen will be heading up to Buckingham for a few days to try and help sort things out.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Lots of unrelated work items meant that the Gorse Fox spent the day re-arranging bits and bytes to form recognisable patterns when printed onto paper or displayed on a screen. As Nicholas Negroponte said "Move bytes not atoms".

During the evening the GF spent some time fiddling with his phone and has managed to download the lates map sets and various other applications that make the phone even more useful than it was before.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

The Gorse Fox escaped early in order to get back for a Councilmeeting. The best laid plans were, however, nearly thwarted by trafficin Swindon and and incident on the motorway near Fareham.

GF arrived at the meeting a little late, and the proceedings were wellunder way. Fortunately there was little that could be consideredcontroversial so the meeting finished in good time.

Interesting snippets emerged when discussing the village history...including a haunted house. What wasn't forthcoming was further detailregarding the story that Dame Myra Hess lived on the estate during the40's

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Well it seems that the Gorse Fox, like most other UK tax payers, nowowns chunks of the UK banking sector. He plans to wanser around anumber of the local banks at the weeknd and see what he should do withthem. Maybe a little re-decorationg and de-cluttering, or maybe somenew furniture. There also seems to be a lot of paper cluttering up thedrawers and that could be recycled into his pocket.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

It has been an interesting day. The Gorse Fox has been busy helpingre-structure various project aspects - or at least explaining whatneeded to be done, and fortunately he now has a practitioner of thesatanic arts to get it done.

There were a few tense moments in the office this morning, but GF wasnot involved and everything seemed to quieten down.

The afternoon featured a young colleague demonstrating a product thatStarfleet has recently acquired. It seemed to go well, and chances arethat it will be added to the portfolio.

GF caught up on news from the Silver Vixen and then headed out for a pizza.

The Gorse Fox's work mailbox reached its limit. This was fine at the weekend as it prevented any further distractions emails from coming in. First thing, however, GF had to hit the Archive button to return to semblance of normality.

The day has been quiet. Not a single phone call. Bliss.

This has meant that a great deal of progress has been made - which, given the diary entries for the next few days, is probably a good thing.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

The party for the Crumbs was an excellent "do". It had taken 8 months to arrange and was held in the Orangery of the Saville Court Hotel at Englefield Green. It was so nice to see the Crumbs again... it must be about 10 years or more since we last got together. It was a big event and there must have been well over a hundred guests.

We shared the table with our famous "Page 3 girl"... who we last saw featured on her birthday. It was nice to catch up on all of the gossip and the goings on and reminisce about earlier times at Starfleet. Much of this was done with sign language and by mouthing words over the sound of the band. This involved a great deal of laughter, eye-dabbing (from the laughter), and wondering what had become of "so-and-so".

It was the early hours of Sunday before we left and made our way back along the empty roads, through the blustery winds and rain to settle in the comfort of home.

(A note to anyone who may be visiting the Saville Court Hotel in the dark - the signs are "subtle" to say the least - in fact they are nigh on invisible in driving rain... but the entrance is actually right on the corner of Bishopsgate Road and Wick Lane.

Also a note to the band - if you have a sound level metre - and there was one clearly visible on the wall - the objective is to keep it in the green or amber and rarely touch the red... keeping the sound in the red all of the time means that you are probably distorting the sound - which for some may be a blessing, but last night's band were very good and the sound levels were detrimental).

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Wind is a subject that is a constant companion to the coast-dweller. Be it on-shore, off-shore, (under the duvet) or blasting along the shore it is always interesting. Today, the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen are scheduled to be attending the Ruby Wedding of the Crumbs. (Mrs Crumb used to work with the Silver Vixen in Starfleet, many years ago.)

In preparation for this auspicious event SV was to get her hair done... but with the wind blasting along the coast it seemed destined to end in disaster. The Gorse Fox therefore volunteered to drive her to the coiffeuse - dropping her at the door and collecting her from said door some hour or so later. This gave him an excuse to wander round the nearby PC World looking at shiny sparkly gadgets and drooling a lot.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

The team comlement has be boosted by the arrival of another new boy. We now a full-time practitioner of the black and satanic arts or project management to provide support. GF is impressed so far. He seems to have grasped the extent of the project and has already started to provide his own brand of organisational input. GF thinks he'll do well.

For the second week running GF managemed to escape from Worcester at a sensible hour and had a pleasant journey back.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Supper was enjoyed by the select few at the Indian buffet. We weresaying farewell to a team member who is about to take a year's leaveof absence from Starfleet and go to live in Lagos. He will be missedas he has been an excellent practitioner of the satanic arts, aconstant source of wit, and an ace bongo player in the "band".

The Gorse Fox was back in his room by nine.

He settled down to watch some TV but soon realised that there wasnothing of sufficient intellectual content to keep him amused. Heresorted to a podcast... by 10 minutes in he was bored with adiscussion that challenged whether or not the Vikings had sufficientink-making technology to have inks containg titanium dioxide. In thegreater scheme of things this did not feature highly on his catalogueof missing knowledge to be acquired.

Car parks can be interesting places. At the hotel, the Gorse Foxnoticed a van "E-On Energy Networks" parked next to another smallervan "Psychic Tarot Readings". He assumes there was a layline bewteenthem.